1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to epitaxial growth for non-planar semiconductor structures. More particularly, the present invention relates to the use of dummy epitaxy to create a containment structure for replacement epitaxy in non-planar semiconductor structures.
2. Background Information
As semiconductor device size has shrunk in recent years, new fabrication techniques have developed to address issues resulting from the reduced size. For example, the use of non-planar transistors instead of planar transistors has allowed device size to continue to get smaller. Along with non-planar transistors, replacement gates and source/drain epitaxial structures have further extended the size reduction. However, it has proved difficult to obtain uniformity of the epitaxial structures, due to damage from chemicals used when the gates are replaced. Further, the non-uniformity leads to merger of neighboring epitaxial structures, which can affect performance or even cause device failure.
Thus, a need exists for more uniformity of epitaxial structures in non-planar semiconductor structures.